What is an Appositive?
An Appositive is a group of words that identifies or renames a noun or pronoun.
Let’s start with a basic sentence.
Bob threw the winning touchdown.
If we wanted to further clarify who Bob is, we could add an Appositive.
EXAMPLE
Bob, a 23 year old senior, threw the winning tocuhdown.
See, we added an appositive to rename or further identify Bob.
MORE EXAMPLES
Jane, the brightest kid in class, fell into the dumpster.
After eating a giant tub of popcorn, Max, my neighbor, returned to the concession stand for a Super Slurpie.
The bug, a one-eyed creature that resembled a cave troll from Lord of the Rings, climbed upon the sleeping woman’s earlobe.
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Think of an Appositive as an additional element to a sentence. I should be able to pluck the Appositive out of the sentence and it still makes sense.
However, adding an Appositive makes the sentence more interesting while explaining a little bit more about the subject.
A quick note
** The Appositive is ALWAYS set off by commas.
